No record of 'not to vote' decision

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, MAY 12. No voter in the State seems to have gone to the booth to record his or her decision not to vote.

The sparingly used provisions in the Election Rules including provisions for tendered votes, challenge vote and decision not to vote - have not been applied at all in most constituencies, simply because ``there has been no demand.''

The largest number of tendered votes, 47 - voters can record their vote in a tendered ballot paper, if they find that their vote has already been cast by someone else - was ``cast'' in Colachel in Kanyakumari district. Election officials in Kanyakumari said a total of 67 tendered votes were recorded from all Assembly constituencies in the district. All the other constituencies recorded single-digit tendered votes. Tendered votes are also a pointer to the extent of bogus voting in a constituency.

Information coming from a majority of the 30 districts indicates that there was no incident of voters asking for Form 17-A or challenge vote. In many instances, election officials themselves did not know about the provisions under the relevant rules governing elections.

Officials in Chennai too said they were not aware of Form 17-A being distributed. They claimed that it was up to the Returning Officers to request for the forms and ensure their availability. ``In fact, I do not think that form 17-A was distributed at all,'' said an election official here.

Under Rule 49-O of the Conduct of the Election Rules, 1961, a voter can decide not to record his or her vote. In that case, a remark to this effect will be made against his or her electoral roll number in Form 17-A by the Presiding Officer, after obtaining the signature from the voter.

The provision was built-in to ensure that bogus votes are not polled even when the voter himself decides not to exercise his franchise in favour of any candidate. If a voter feels strongly about not voting for any candidate, the best option, the EC felt, was to go to the polling station, ensure that his or her electoral roll number had been duly entered in the register for voters in Form 17-A and affix his or her signature.

Reports from district headquarters from the northern districts indicate that the number of tendered ballots have been in the region of 60 to 70 for each of the district. For instance, Erode district recorded 64 tendered votes while in Cuddalore, Election officials said the number was between ``five and 10'' in each of the nine constituencies.

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Section  : State Elections
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